9-Year-Old Autistic Boy Lost Both Parents But Found Hope In The Skies

By Taylor McAdams, Published on Aug 14, 2017

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9-year-old Robbie Ecuyer lost his mother, Shelley, due to her lifelong illness. After she passed away, Robbie needed to cling onto something positive in order to keep going, but never in a million years would he have guessed what was about to happen next.

Suffering from cystic fibrosis and gastroparesis for as long as she could remember, Shelly always knew her time would come much sooner than she had hoped. To better prepare her son for the worst, Shelley would tell Robbie that after she would be gone, he would still be able to sense her presence when looking at a rainbow. The rainbow, she explained, was her bridge to heaven.

What Shelley did not see coming is the fact that her husband Robert would die just weeks before she did. Although she knew Robert had a substance abuse problem, she hoped he would get his act together – which he evidently did not.

The day Shelly died, a family member noticed a double rainbow was stretching over Robbie’s school. She stood in disbelief and had to snap a picture to make sure her eyes were not deceiving her and showed it to Robbie the minute he came back from school.

After Robbie’s parents’ untimely death, Shelly’s sister Crystal Skawinski was granted custody of the young boy. She noticed that Robbie would become encouraged whenever he would spot a rainbow, but his spirits would drop during days the sky was rainbow-free. That is when she got the idea to post about his situation on social media. She had only one request – that people would send Robbie pictures of rainbows using the hashtag #RainbowsForRobbie. That way, Crystal explained, Robbie will know that his mom is safe.

Crystal’s post went viral in a matter of no time. More than 7,000 people from around the globe sent Robbie pictures of exquisite skies presenting single and double rainbows. Crystal’s message reached Czech Republic, Hungary, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Romania and the Netherlands as well as many other countries.

Robbie now plans on putting together a scrapbook along with his new family, one which will help him remember that although his parents are gone – he is never alone in the world.